Portland Century 2007 - www.portlandcentury.com

The Portland Century was on August 26 in which we rode the 50 mile route. All routes (25, 50 & 100 miles) started from Portland State University and each took a specific route thru and around the Portland Metro area. The 50 mile route went out the Springwater Corridor all the way from downtown to Gresham which was about 15-17 miles of riding on a trail that was once a railway in the early 1900s. The Route from Gresham went thru Troutdale to Marine Drive and out to Smith & Bybee Lakes. Up until this point we had enjoyed 2 well run rest stops and nothing unusual on the route. Once we left Smith & Bybee and made our way thru the Water Treatment Center we encountered a train stopped blocking the trail that leads to Columbia Blvd! Just sitting there idling away. There were quite a few of us so we made haste and schlepped bikes and people over an open car that happened to be directly in front of us…on the trail so that was a good thing. However, the fact that the train was sitting there just idling, it was hard telling just how long it would continue sitting there and how long it had been there in the first place. One family on a tandem with a tag-along, pulling a burley trailer had their ride broken down very quickly to get them over safely. These sorts of things make for great memories! We ended up with a ride time of 4 hours and 22 minutes. Not bad for a fairly flat route…a little windy on Marine Drive, but that is always expected.

I am looking forward to a few Sunday’s off with our next organized ride on September 23 and our last one on September 30. This summer has been so mild and it’s been a great cycling season so far! I’m hoping to continue riding to work into October…we’ll see how that goes.

This photo is from the Portland Century website.

TOM & NANCY'S BIKE GARAGE

In the last week we inherited a couple extra bikes - one is Mary's for a new chain installation and the other is Linda's (Tom's sis) who had this old, yard sale find, 3 speed stored at their Mother's house in the shed. Tom decided to get it fixed up for those occasions that Linda might want to ride when she is in Hillsboro.

Health Net Criterium - 2007

Tom and I went to the Health Net Twilight Criterium....it was in a different location, instead of at the Art Museum and the South Park Blocks. We ended up walking 10 blocks to the North Park Blocks to get to the race. The race was exciting with a rider from HealthNet winning the Elite rider's race.

Word of the Day

There are times while Tom and I are enjoying our morning coffee that we will pull out the dictionary and look up words for the fun of it. Expanding our word-power if you will. One word leads to another and then we find a real gem - such as -:

hug•ger-mug•ger Pronunciation: (hug'ur-mug"ur)

—n. 1. disorder or confusion; muddle. 2. secrecy; reticence: Why is there such hugger-mugger about the scheme?

—adj. 1. secret or clandestine. 2. disorderly or confused.

—v.t. to keep secret or concealed; hush up.

—v.i. to act secretly.

This goes to show you that we probably should get out a little more than we do now.

Vine Ride 2007

Saturday, August 18 was our 3rd Vine Ride and the second time we have done the 65 mile route. There was a slight change in the route and the 65 mile route which was 71 miles total last year was 67 this year and our average was less. I do remember that last year was not nearly as windy as this year.

Final time was 4 hours 53 minutes. Definitely made it under 5 hours but it was a shorter route overall. Oh well, I'm glad that we finished without any kind of problems. No flats, no cars trying to run us off the road or trucks loaded up with hay.

This Sunday is the Portland Century a new ride for us...I'm looking forward to another long ride!

It's already mid August?!

Man! The days just seem to fly by...why can't work go by just as quick?

This last weekend (August 12) we did the Providence Bridge Pedal...it was awesome as always. There really were not many delays except for the one big gummed up section right before the Ross Island Bridge. Lots of grumbling from people that went through after us which included some friends of ours. A couple of guys here who rode didn't get to finish because the freeways were being opened up to traffic again. Oh well, there is always next year!

Here is a photo from the Hottest Day of the Year ride that we did August 5th.

This is me at the finish of the Night Ride on July 7 - Tom has got to be VERY proud to have me for a wife!

ArtBar Music on Main Street

Yesterday I met Tom at his office and we took the streetcar to the Art Museum (along with a nice group of tourist exploring PDX) and hopped off to make our way to the plaza between the Schnitz and PCPA for a free Pepe & the Bottle Blondes concert.

What a fun evening! There was a barking contest (guys against the gals - gals won). Don't ask why, Pepe is crazy. A guy doing some fancy moves...and a lot of good fun!

Here's Pepe and the Blondes....